Phillies minor leaguer Corey Phelan dies at 20 after battle with cancer

After a long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Phillies minor leaguer Corey Phelan passed away at the age of 20, the Phillies announced Thursday.

Phelan, a left-handed pitcher, was signed by the Phillies as a free agent in August 2020. About a year later, he made his minor league debut with the Florida Complex League Phillies. In 2022, after just five rookie league games, he received his diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In all, he pitched only 9⅔ innings in his professional baseball career.

Phelan approached his battle with cancer the way he approached baseball. He was dedicated. He had a routine. But above all, he saw it as a challenge, one that he was eager to take on.

» READ MORE: How the Phillies’ Daniel Brito is helping Corey Phelan in his cancer battle: ‘I’m trying to keep that fire alive’

He made sure to take his walks every day. He got 12 hours of sleep a night, because chemotherapy made him tired. He emanated positive energy, despite the fact that his lifelong dream had come to an abrupt halt.

Phelan leaned on his teammates, and even made it out to Citizens Bank Park one time a few months ago. He met some players, including Zach Eflin, whose sister died from cancer. He spent some time with manager Rob Thomson and the coaching staff. Thomson still wears a brightly-colored rubber bracelet around his wrist in support of Phelan.

Phelan leaned on many of his teammates for support, but he said in an interview with The Inquirer in May that one stood out above the others. Phillies minor leaguer Daniel Brito checked in with Phelan after he noticed his friend was in the hospital. Brito said it brought him back to his own recent health scare, when he collapsed on the field in a triple-A game in Rochester, N.Y., after a suffering a brain hemorrhage.

Brito attended minor league spring training this past spring, which is where the two players met. Phelan was inspired by Brito’s strength, but as he began battling the disease, he started to see Brito in a different light; an example of someone who could undergo a harrowing, life-threatening experience and make it back onto a baseball field. To Phelan, Brito represented life beyond cancer.

“It’s just nice to hear from someone that has been through something so difficult, and is playing again,” Phelan said in May.

“Corey is and will always be a special person,” said Preston Mattingly, the Phillies’ director of player development, in a team press release. “His smile lit up a room and anybody who came in contact with him cherished the interaction. His memory will live on, especially with the Phillies organization.”